Random acts of coffee kindness

#7. Pay for a stranger's coffee at Starbucks once a month for six months. **EDIT: I only did it for 4 months. See note at bottom.**

I've always been inspired by random acts of kindness. When I was making this list I knew I wanted to add something like that to it. Since grad school is not a lucrative employment position, I can't donate large amounts to charity (yet!). But, I've found that little gestures that are more personal make me feel better than donating a lump sum anyway, because I can see the reaction immediately.

12/19/15, Colorado Springs: My mom and I were downtown, doing a bit of shopping. There were two men sitting on benches across the street from Starbucks, looking like they were a bit down on their luck. One was playing the harmonica next to a handmade cardboard sign. The sign didn't ask for money or beg for anything; it simply said "Coffee?" It was so simple that it really touched me. I went to Starbucks and asked for a coffee, then went back outside and gave it to the man. They seemed a bit surprised but appreciative, and it gave me all the warm fuzzy feelings. 

1/23/16, Austin: I was meeting Marisa at the Starbucks on 25th Street, basically on the UT campus. I have to admit that part of the reason I wanted to go to Starbucks was to fulfill this, because the last 4-ish times I've been to a coffee shop I was the only one in line (and January is coming to an end)! And then it happened again! It's way easier to tell the cashier that you'll be buying the person behind you's order than to go up to a random person and ask if you can buy them their coffee. But that's exactly what ended up happening.
As Marisa and I were getting ready to leave Starbucks to go shopping, there were three people in line. This was my last chance (for the day). So, I went up to the guy who was last in line and said, "Hi, can I buy your coffee for you?" He looked and me and went, "Uh...sure?" 
I explained to him that I was on a mission to do random acts of kindness for strangers (which is mostly true. I didn't want to get into the whole 30-before-30 thing, it felt too formal at the time.), and then he asked me what else I had done. I told him that I'd bought coffee for a homeless man. He said that was a nice thing to do, and after I bought his drink, he held out his hand and introduced himself. Nice to meet you, Neil!
This was all very awkward and honestly I think he was shocked. It was a little uncomfortable for me too, but I'm glad I did it. The only thing is that I wish I had asked him to simply pay it forward: not even the buying part, just the kindness part. If it brought a smile to his face or inspired anyone around us to be more kind, then my job was done.

2/29/16, Austin: Tim was in town. It was 4pm. I had just had a meeting with a student and her dad that was uncomfortable and anxiety producing. Tim and I needed caffeine, badly. The Starbucks at the stadium was closed, so we went to the one at the SAC. As we walked in, I realized it was the last day of February, and thus the last chance I had for this month!
I let Tim go ahead of me and then turned around to the girl behind me, gently interrupted her story to her friend and asked, "Hey, can I buy you your drink?" She looked doubtful and asked if I was sure, and I said, "Yes, absolutely!" She was very grateful and kept thanking me, and then asked if I did this a lot. So, I explained that I had this 30 before 30 list, and that one thing on it was to buy someone coffee once a month for six months. I asked her to simply pass on the kindness to someone else. I think she bought her friend his coffee after that :)
While waiting for our drinks, I found out Camille is an architecture major. She was really nice and appreciative, and all the anxiety I had felt from everything that had happened earlier in the day melted away when I saw how something that little could brighten someone's day that much.

3/29/16, Austin: After our quartet coaching, Marisa and I went to get coffee before going on with our day. We went to the Starbucks at the stadium, and a woman got in line right behind me. Excellent. I turned around and asked her if I could buy her drink. She looked quite dubious, so I hurriedly explained that I was trying to do acts of kindness for strangers. Her face softened and she said, "You are so sweet! I'm also buying a drink for my boyfriend, so I'll buy that one." I really appreciated that!
She asked me if I was a student, and I told her yes, I was a music student at UT. She said she was there looking at the school with her sister-in-law. I never got her name, but she seemed very touched.

I decided to cut this one short because honestly, this was TOTALLY AWKWARD. I really like the idea behind it, but the execution needs to be improved. Regardless, I pat myself on the back for trying, and am still thinking of ways to be kinder to everyone I meet.

4 down. 26 to go!

A little something extra...

I bet y'all thought you weren't going to hear from me for a while, huh? HA! I fooled ya!

Last year when I was just starting this endeavor, I checked my mail one day and this was there! Tim's sister was such a sweetheart to give this to me! It came blank and you're supposed to fill in the states you've visited. Sarah had read my blog and when she saw not only my quest of cross stitching but also seeing the US, she sent this to me in Boston. Obviously it's not done yet but I did a bit of work on it over break and wanted to share! I can't wait to make this a permanent part of my apartment decor.

Thank you, Sarah!

$aving for the future, parts 1 and 2

#6. Learn and understand financial terms and options (an IRA account, 401(k), stocks, CDs, etc. etc.), start saving money for retirement and figure out how to do my own taxes, including all terms/definitions.

Money and the options for saving/investing have always been confusing to me. I know that there's much more out there than checking and savings accounts, but I didn't know what they were. My dad kindly sat down with me over winter break and explained some things. Just to warn you, it's long and could be a little boring. And, if you already know this stuff, apologies and feel free to skip this blog post! But, these are all things I was learning for the first time and I'll probably come back to this page often for my own sake. 

Anyway, without further ado, Part 1: learning and understanding financial terms and options

Traditional IRA: IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. A traditional IRA is set up through a stock broker/e-broker. The basic idea here is that you invest money into this account before taxes and it grows tax free. You only pay taxes when you take money out of it when you're retired, which assumes that you are in a lower tax bracket and thus paying fewer taxes. However, there are limitations to the amount of income you make to have a traditional IRA, as in, you can't make too much money. 
Roth IRA: A Roth IRA is also a retirement account, but you invest money here *after* you pay taxes. So, you can't deduct this money on your taxes, but the amount you can put into a Roth is more than you can put into a traditional IRA. Since you're putting in money after you pay taxes on it initially, you only pay taxes on the gains of the IRA rather than the whole amount. 
401(k): This is ALSO a retirement account, but this one is sponsored by your employer. The tax code allows you to put more money into this type of account than the Roth or traditional IRAs. The money you put in is before taxes and you're only taxed on the withdrawals (similar to the traditional IRA, but the salary and contribution limits are both higher). The two aspects that seem particularly appealing about this kind of account are 1) after 50 years, you can start adding in an extra $5500 per year; and 2) sometimes your employer will match the money that goes into your account. Free money! Who doesn't like that??
Pension: This was an olde tyme retirement plan that was meant to supplement Social Security. However, a lot of companies were mismanaging the accounts, and when you went to get your money when you retired, you didn't get what you'd been promised. (Bad companies!) This type of investment isn't common anymore, partly because of that reason. 
Stocks: A piece of ownership of a certain company, obtained by buying shares. There is higher risk when investing in individual stocks, because you're only depending on one stock to do well. Stock transactions are handled by a broker or e-broker. 

Splitting the stock: When a company increases the amount of shares by issuing more shares to existing shareholders. For example, a company could double the amount of shares so that each share is now worth half of what it was worth. This means that less affluent people can afford to buy into the stock.
Mutual fund: This is an investment vehicle run by money managers. These managers pool money from many of their clients (with their permission, of course!) and use that money to buy stocks that are in line with a goal (income, growth, etc.). Usually these stocks are spread across various industries so that there is a better chance of at least a few stocks doing well!
CD: Certificate of Deposit. Basically, this is a glorified savings account, but with better interest than you would get through a savings account. CDs are available through banks, but they are only valid for a certain amount of time: you can't leave money in a CD for life. Also, you aren't allowed to withdraw the money until that time is up. So, the risk is low on a CD, but it has to be money you wouldn't need in an emergency. 
Gains: This is fancy speak for the money you make on an investment.
Dollar-cost averaging: This is a scenario of investment. If you invest at a regular period, and the stock is going up and down (as it is wont to do), you can buy more shares at the lower price and come out ahead. For example, say you always invest $100 every month. Maybe in January, the shares are $10 each. Now you can get 10 shares. In February, they're down to $7 apiece, so you can buy 14 shares. But maybe in March, the shares have spiked to $20 apiece. Now you can only get 5, but even just in the last 3 months, without altering how much you're spending, you've gotten 29 shares! This is in stark contrast to timing the market, where people try to buy when the stock is at its lowest and sell when it's at its highest. There are so many factors to the market that trying to predict this is almost impossible! There have been studies that prove that dollar-cost averaging will make you come out on top in the long run.
"On-paper": Fancy talk for how much money you would get if you cashed out THIS MOMENT RIGHT NOW.
Liquid assets: These are assets (or, big piles of money) that you can cash in on and have available within several days (stocks and mutual funds). Illiquid assets are piles of invested money that you can't get out if you need it quickly; for example, real estate, fine art, and expensive instruments. 
Default: This word is used in bad situations. It's referenced a lot in home mortgages, where the owners can't honor the terms of the loan, and they have to default on the loan. Someone ends up losing money in this situation. :( not fun.

Part 2: Start saving money for retirement
Being a self-employed, freelancing musician who is still in graduate school makes it extremely difficult to save money for the future. The best thing I can do (says my dad!) is to put away money in an account as an "emergency fund": in other words, 3-6 months' worth of money for living expenses. Then, once I have that much set aside, I can start saving for other things. Since I'm (so far) self-employed, a Simple IRA is an option for me (it's only available to those who are self-employed). I was also encouraged to start building credit. This is done by getting a credit card in my name and showing that I can pay it off. Even if it's not a lot each month, it will start to build credit and help me financially later on down the road. 

Stay tuned for the adventure of doing my own taxes, coming March/April 2017!

Climbing Mountains

#5. Climb at least 30 14ers.

Those of you who have known me for more than a couple months or have spent a summer with me know that I LOVE Colorado and the mountains that come with it. More specifically, I'm a little obsessed with 14ers, or mountains that rise above 14,000 feet. When I wrote my list of 30 before 30 I had already climbed 16 of them. Being at NRO this summer in Breckenridge allowed me to get closer to this goal, since the prime climbing season is in the summer and fall, and I'm rarely in Colorado anymore during the fall season. (If you're interested in seeing all of the pictures (of most of the 14ers I've climbed) rather than just the summit pictures, head on over to my 14ers Facebook album.)

2015
The first trip we took was to the Kite Lake Trailhead. We got three more summits!

17: Mt. Democrat (with Tim Steeves, Matt Armbruster, and David Beytas)

18: Mt. Cameron (with Tim, Matt, David and Kate Bateman, also known as Team Thunder Thighs)

19: Mt. Lincoln (with the whole gang)

20: Mt. Columbia
After our concert and rehearsal on Sunday, July 19, Tim and I drove to Buena Vista, CO and slept overnight at the trailhead for Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia. We were going to attempt both, but only summitted Mt. Columbia and were heading over to Mt. Harvard before getting very lost, quite cold, and dealing with lightning before realizing there was no way we were getting out of this on our own. We ended up calling Search and Rescue, who helped direct us off the mountain with an alternate route and met up with us about 2 hours later to shuttle us to my car (don't worry, no helicopter necessary). Although we didn't technically descend the correct way, it was a hell of a long descent, and so I'm counting this one anyway!

In retrospect, with all those clouds, we should've just come down after Columbia.

21: Mt. Harvard

We returned to the same trailhead to attempt Mt. Harvard 2 weeks after our disaster with Mt. Columbia. We are happy to report that it was a success with beautiful weather, a well marked trail and two happy and warm campers!

This rock had the name of the peak and the elevation written on it, but it's not visible in the picture.

21/54 total 14ers climbed.

5 new summits in 2015 in 3 trips.

Approximately 40 miles and 12,350 vertical feet climbed.

2016

I again spent the summer in Breckenridge at NRO, but due to many different factors, only did a repeat 14er (Quandary) while I was there. After NRO was done, I got serious.

22 & 23: Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans

I've had my eye on Mt. Bierstadt/Mt. Evans for a while now, because climbing them both would allow me to finish up all the peaks in the Front Range. When the weather finally cleared up from a storm front that lasted a couple of days, I drove to Aspen to pick up Tim and we made the trek to the Guanella Pass trailhead near Denver. We started hiking the next morning at 3:58am. Mt. Bierstadt's summit was our first stop at 6:34am.

Then we headed down and over to the Sawtooth. This is the name for the connecting ridge between Bierstadt and Evans. It was a lot of fun to traverse over this!

Tim's all smiles as we cross the Sawtooth!

After the Sawtooth, we climbed another hour or so before reaching the top of Mt. Evans at 10:24am.

I know you can't read the sign, but it does say "Mt. Evans"

The descent was very rough: about 20 minutes in, my left ankle gave out and I fell hard onto both my knees. With Tim helping me up and over rocks, we finally made our way into and down the gully, where we first heard thunder. I slipped on a wet rock about 15 minutes later and slammed down hard onto my right hand (even through a thick, padded glove it still caused major swelling and bruising--and hurt like hell). The final mile was bushwhacking through willows and mud swamps, which left us both quite grumpy and our shoes an entirely different color. But, we did make it back to the car around 2pm, and what a welcome sight that was!

Farewell, Front Range. You definitely made me work for it!

24: Mt. Bross

I did this as my solo ascent for the summer! You can check it out here: http://sophiedoes30things.blogspot.com/2016/08/solo-climbing.html

24/54 14ers climbed.

3 new summits in 2016 in 2 trips.

Approx. 27 miles and 5,140 vertical feet climbed.

Visiting the 50 states, part 3

Here we go! A road trip to cover 15 states total, including 9 new ones!! Just under two months ago, when it looked like I would be headed to UT for next year, my dad proposed a road trip that would get my entire apartment and me from Boston to Austin, hitting a bunch of states I’ve never been to AND visiting my grandparents. On Tuesday, we started on our epic journey!

Actually, I guess Monday night was the real start. My dad and I met up with Alex, SuYin and Daniel (who all helped us pack the truck!) and Maya at Sunset Cantina for my last night in Boston.

We hopped into the Budget truck around 7:45am on Tuesday and made our way out of Massachusetts. We had planned on stopping in Rhode Island for breakfast.

#3d: Rhode Island

In the “Historic” neighborhood of Federal Heights, we found a restaurant that came highly rated on Yelp. The Classic Café had a retro diner feel with excellent food. I had an omelet with feta, avocado, spinach and tomatoes, complete with four slices of sourdough bread and hash browns. Amazing! And, a perfect way to cross Rhode Island off the list.

We crossed through Connecticut (which I visited in March) and New York before we hit New Jersey in early afternoon.

#3e: New Jersey

We were still full from breakfast, so I looked for any sort of tourist attraction (rather than a restaurant) next to the New Jersey Turnpike so we wouldn’t have to venture far off of our route. I found the Thomas Edison Tower and Museum at Menlo Park. Perfect! We headed over there only to find out…it was closed for renovation until October! (And the museum was only open Thursdays – Saturdays…guess that’s what I get for just skimming the website!) We were both bummed but got some pictures anyway. We tried! Fed up with the tolls and the poor signage and now the misinformation of the Edison memorial, we decided this was enough of New Jersey and hit the road again.

#3f: Delaware

We stopped in Delaware for dinner at The Corner Bistro. It was oddly placed in a strip mall, but was pretty fancy inside, albeit with a décor that made me think the food was going to be better than it was. The salad was pretty delicious (it had goat cheese, candied pecans, and cranberries) but my chicken was a little dry and the potatoes were nothing special. However, they did let me charge my phone on the bar cart because our truck’s cigarette lighters don’t work, so I was very thankful for that.

#3g: Maryland

We hit Salisbury, Maryland at 9:30pm at the end of our first day of travel. We stayed in a Best Western, and we were off bright and early the next morning to move on to Virginia and then North Carolina!

On Wednesday morning we fueled up in Maryland before we were off to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to go into Virginia. Even though it added some mileage to the trip, it was definitely worth it. The views were incredible (and so was the bridge/tunnel...what a nightmare to construct that!). 

Filling up the truck in Maryland! 

Paying the toll to experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

The Chesapeake Bay! 

The dynamic duo!

Then, it was just a few more hours of driving before getting to the hotel of Gram and Gramps in North Carolina to visit my grandparents and spend the night there!

My grandparents were wonderful hosts, and we started the second half of our trip well fed and well rested, and with some homemade goodies for the road! It took us the rest of the morning to drive through the remainder of North Carolina.

#3h: South Carolina

We crossed over the South Carolina border around noon on Thursday, and got out at the visitor center to stretch our legs. HOLY MOLY HUMIDITY. It felt like I was swimming through the air! It was definitely the most humid of the states we’d been to yet. Our route was set to take us right through Columbia, SC, the home of University of South Carolina, so we made that our thing to see. The campus was beautiful! I think we only saw a very small portion of it, but the buildings were regal and the landscaping was stunning. We found the university bookstore so my dad could buy a shot glass (he collects them), and then walked back across a beautiful courtyard on the way to the truck. A perfect image of South Carolina, and the people were so friendly!

#3i: Georgia

We had decided to do dinner in Augusta, Georgia, and Yelp pointed us toward a restaurant called Frog Hollow Tavern. It was just inside the Georgia border, since North Augusta is in South Carolina, then you go over a river, and then Augusta is in Georgia.

We walked in just a few minutes after they opened at 5pm, and found out they were completely full for dinner that night! Not to worry, they said, we could sit at the bar with full dining service. Cool! We headed to the bar where the bartenders helped us out by answering our every question. We settled on the Mac and Cheese to start, my dad ordered the catfish, and I had the Angus Butcher Steak. The Mac and Cheese arrived and it was amazing! Smoked gouda and cheddar between flat sheets of pasta; my dad said it was the best M&C he’s ever had. Our entrees were equally as incredible—the best food we’ve had on this trip so far, hands down—and for dessert we had a carrot cake bread pudding. Feeling stuffed and overwhelmingly content, we waddled back to the truck and drove through the Georgia countryside to get to Atlanta for the night.

For the last few mornings on the road, we had driven an hour or so before stopping for breakfast. But on Friday morning, circumstances necessitated driving further to find an acceptable breakfast spot, as the only offerings in Anniston, AL were poorly rated on Yelp (think long waits, fast food, and food poisoning—not something we wanted to experience!).

#3j: Alabama

We drove almost two and a half hours before getting to Birmingham, where we stopped at Fife’s Restaurant. This was certainly a place for the locals! My breakfast sandwich was stuffed with bacon and scrambled eggs, and it certainly filled me up!

Wanting to fully experience Southern cooking, I also asked for a biscuit with gravy:

“I’ll have a biscuit, and do you have gravy?”

[Waitress looks at me like it was the stupidest question she’d ever heard] “GRAVY? We don’t have gravy.”

[Me, meekly and sheepishly] “Oh, ok. Just a biscuit then. Thank you.”

Birmingham was definitely an experience!

In the early afternoon we passed right through Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama and the Crimson Tide. We thought, well, we’re here, let’s have a look! The architecture of the campus buildings was absolutely beautiful: every brick building had intimidating columns at the front with rounded staircases going up to the entrance. It did make them all look sort of the same, but I didn’t mind: it looked like quintessential Southern architecture to me, and it was magnificent.

We found the university bookstore in the student center, where we proceeded to look for a UA shot glass. We found mason jars, and martini glasses, and pint glasses, and mugs…but no shot glasses. Strange, we thought. Finally, after searching the entire store, my dad asked an employee. Turns out, shot glasses are the one thing the bookstore isn’t allowed to sell! Seems crazy to me…and to my dad. We left empty handed but happy, and got back into the truck to drive onto Mississippi.

#3k: Mississippi

We had planned on making a quick stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to see a Medicine Wheel Garden on the University of Southern Mississippi campus. It looked like a nice place to stop for a quick stretch and some photo ops. We exited the freeway, and started following Siri’s directions toward the parking lot for the garden. But due to copious amounts of construction, a baseball game, and stricter parking signs than Capitol Hill, we had to give up and move on! Even if we had just had a space to park and wander around, I’m sure we would’ve been able to find the garden. But alas, stopping to visit the Medicine Wheel Garden in Mississippi just wasn’t in the cards on Friday. Frustrated from countless three point turns, one way streets, and blocked entryways into seemingly empty parking lots, we left Hattiesburg without looking back and pressed on toward the next stop: New Orleans!

The signs for New Orleans from the road in Mississippi!

#3l: Louisiana

The last new state of the trip brought with it a very fun evening! Finding a jazz club in the French Quarter that came highly rated on Yelp (noticing a trend here?), I called and made a reservation for the two of us from the road. We cruised into New Orleans just before 6pm, and proceeded to turn onto Frenchmen Road, in the French Quarter, in a BUDGET TRUCK. It was clear there was no way we would be parking on this street, or any of the streets in the French Quarter that were similarly crowded. We barely squeaked by the cars parked on either side of the one-way street, and after some careful maneuvering, made it back to the more spacious boulevard, where we found a parking spot not far from the restaurant. Phew! Crisis averted.

The parking situation in the French Quarter

Three Muses was a small but bustling jazz club/tapas restaurant. There was a trio playing in the front corner, and without meaning to, you could hear your neighbors’ conversation. We ordered a cheese plate (we were so hungry that we started eating immediately and I forgot to get a picture) and seared scallops (only did slightly better on the picture front this time) to start, then moved on to bacon wrapped dates filled with bleu cheese and a hangar steak over a crab cake. All of the food was absolutely delicious, and we ended the meal with homemade malted vanilla and Mexican chocolate ice cream with homemade biscotti and cookies.

They had warned us when I made the reservation that we were only allowed to stay at the table for 1.5 hours—we could move to the bar after that if we still wanted to stay in the venue. We decided to explore more of the French Quarter instead: there was an art fair happening on a side street, and the whole main street was bustling with people and live music from various venues. Overall it was a welcoming and enticing first New Orleans experience, and I would love to go back someday!

After much consternation (and swearing from the passenger seat) on the road of trying to find a hotel after leaving the French Quarter, we finally found one in Hammond, LA. Definitely not a five star establishment, but good enough for the night, and we slept soundly before the last day of our trip!

Our last day had us in Hammond when we woke up late, and we decided we wanted breakfast before we hit the road today. We found a local place called Lee’s Diner decorated like a 50’s diner, and had breakfast there before we hit the road.

We got to Texas around noon, but then it took us another FIVE HOURS to get to Austin. (I never realized how huge Texas was until we entered the state at exit number 876.)

Our time in Austin has been so great! Our hosts (family friends) were so wonderful and welcoming, and I got to meet a few friends of my dad’s from college too! On Sunday the first order of business was unpacking the truck into a storage unit and then returning the truck. After that was done, we walked around the UT campus and had some Austin food, and tried to watch the bats (hopefully we’ll have better luck next time!). Monday brought with it some of the craziest weather I’ve ever seen! The morning was cloudy, but at about 1:45 (the time that my dad and I went to hang out with Lauren) the rain just started pouring down! There was tons of flooding and multiple tornado warnings. It was insane! 

I know this blog post was long (sorry!) but this was the biggest trip I’ve done in a long time! I had a great time, and I can’t wait to start my new life in Texas in August!

12/18 done with #3!!